As the sun went down on this remarkable facility the Red Bull racer’s soaring star continued to rise.

And Vettel was close to tears as he choked back the emotion and dedicated a giant win of the year to his reclusive parents, father, Norbert, and mother, Heike, making a rare appearance at a race.

“I love them very much and I want to dedicate this win to them,” he said.

“They spent a lot of their lives watching me race. Now it’s bigger toys and more people watching and it was great for them.

“Michael is my idol and I used to watch all his wins on television as a kid and to equal them is very special.”

Only Schumacher in 2004 and the legendary Alberto Ascari have been as successful.

It is 98 days since anyone but Vettel won a Grand Prix.

This was the most devastating of the lot, leading by over 40 seconds before easing back to come home 31 seconds ahead of the rest.

A week after wrapping up his fourth successive title Vettel proved he won’t be taking his foot off the gas any time soon.

The next man up was Mark Webber, with Nico Rosberg third.

And even when it was over Vettel refused to lift his right boot.

He defied convention a second race in succession to scorch celebratory donuts in the track run-off area.

Told he could face another punishment after his £21,000 fine and reprimand at the last race Vettel said: “I don’t think so. Technically I did it off the track and I bought the car back to parc ferme.”

Webber did the same as Red Bull celebrated their 100th podium.

From dusk til dawn: Sebastian Vettel made it seven in a row in Abu Dhabi (Photo: AFP)

And it was yet another win for Vettel as stewards decided he had returned with a fuel sample and would not be punished: a remarkable outbreak of sanity for F1.

After a desperate last minute patch-up job on the grid to repair his brakes, Lewis Hamilton was a lacklustre seventh as Mercedes took an 11 point lead over Ferrari in the battle for runners-up spot in the constructors championship.

“Nico's been getting great points for the team and I just need to work harder to do the same. It’s the same every race. It can’t be other people’s fault,” said Hamilton.

Jenson Button made a rare mistake and crashed into the back of Paul di Resta to finish 12th while the Scot recovered to take sixth.

“My fault, I locked the brakes,” said Button.

Kimi Raikkonen withdrew his threat to boycott the last two races after a skeleton deal was struck to get his unpaid millions from Lotus’ new backers.

That didn’t help his luck in a miserable weekend as he crashed out the opening lap for the first time in seven years.